Saturday, May 10, 2014

Who filled the moat

Here are some views of the museum area at Häme Castle in Hämeenlinna. The photographs were taken on May 4th.

I have got 10 hours of exercise this week, half of it riding bicycle, and the rest walking and various other activities. Nowadays I'm getting 2-3 times the amount of exercise I got three years ago, and it is good.

I have recognized only recently one benefit of walking in forests and swamps, and that is improved balance. It used to be so that when in an old forest there was a dense thicket of fallen trees across the way, I got an "Oh no!" reaction. Nowadays I usually get on "Oh yes!" reaction.

In fact, the so-called obstacle course is meant to be training for this kind of situations, and I'm getting the real thing when walking in forests and swamps. In addition to fallen trees some of the landscape is rugged so that one needs to climb across boulders, and up and down rocky hillsides.

But that doesn't change the fact that while my balance and coordination has improved, I'm still far from excellent in these skills. So, you won't see me doing parkour or engaging in rock climbing. However, even though balance and coordination is something that generally won't be improving when one gets older, I'm better than I used to be, which is fine.

(Posting title is from the poem A Song for Myself by Melvin B. Tolson.)

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About Me

Juha Haataja works with information techology to support education, research, and culture. His hobbies include photography, literature, and outdoor activities. He lives in the capital region of Finland.